China's Lunar Calendar 2017 10-24

Click here for the introduction to the Round and Square series "Calendars and Almanacs"  

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦
11/1.........................................................................................................10/24

This is one in a never-ending series—following the movements of the calendar—in Round and Square perpetuity. It is today's date in the Chinese lunar calendar, along with basic translation and minimal interpretation. Unless you have been studying lunar calendars (and Chinese culture) for many years, you will likely find yourself asking "what does that mean?" I would caution that "it" doesn't "mean" any one thing. There are clusters of meaning, and they require patience, reflection, careful reading, and, well, a little bit of ethnographic fieldwork. The best place to start is the introduction to "Calendars and Almanacs" on this blog. I teach a semester-long course on this topic and, trust me, it takes a little bit of time to get used to the lunar calendar. Some of the material is readily accessible; some of it is impenetrable, even after many years.

As time goes on, I will link all of the sections to lengthy background essays. This will take a while. In the meantime, take a look, read the introduction, and think about all of the questions that emerge from even a quick look at the calendar.

Section One

Solar Calendar Date
廿
四

二期星

Tenth Month, Twenty-Fourth Day

Tuesday, October 24

————

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

生驛金王

氣馬匱日

Kingly Days
Golden Cupboard-bare
Postal Horse
Engendered Vapor

Section Three
Auspicious Hours
(top to bottom, right to left) 
申辰子
吉凶吉
酉己丑
吉吉吉
戌午寅

中凶凶
亥未卯
中吉凶

23:00-01:00 Auspicious
01:00-03:00 Auspicious
03:00-05:00 Inauspicious
05:00-07:00 Inauspicious

07:00-09:00 Inauspicious
9:00-11:00 Auspicious
11:00-13:00 Inauspicious
13:00-15:00 Auspicious

15:00-17:00 Auspicious
17:00-19:00 Auspicious
19:00-21:00 In-Between
21:00-23:00 In-Between

The hours above are for Hong Kong. It is up to you if you want to recalibrate or to assume that the cyclicality of the calendar "covers" the rest of the world. This is a greater interpretive challenge than you might think.
                             —————————————————

Section Four 
Activities to Avoid  
(top-to-bottom; right to left) 

忌
伐安出開
木牀財倉

Opening Granaries
Capital Outflow
Positioning Beds
Felling Timber

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

除
五
甲
申
水
翌
開
Fifth Day (Ninth Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: jiashen (21/60)

Phase (element): Water
Constellation: Wings (27/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Open (11/12)

————

Section Six
Appropriate Activities
and Miscellaneous Information  
(top-to-bottom; right to left)

宜

上開裁祭
梁 市衣祀
作交移祈
灶易徙福
穿修理入
井造髮學
置動醫出
產土病行
兀上
招厭五月
搖對離忌

————

Appropriate Activities
Venerating Ancestors
Inquiring-into Fortune
Entering Study
Going Out (and about)
Cutting-out Clothing
Moving Households
Patterning Hair
Physician Visits
Opening Markets
Trade and Commerce
Repairing and Constructing
Moving Soil
Raising Beams
Stove Work
Boring Wells
Setting-up Industry

Upper Amputee

Baleful Astral Influences

Lunar Taboo
Five Separations
Mutual Repression
Rollicking Braggadocio

Section Seven
Inauspicious Stars
丫

Bifurcation
———— 

Section Eight

Miscellaneous Activities

爐 門 占

Furnace, Gate, Divination